DUI Mom

A Holmes County woman convicted of killing her own children in a traffic wreck was sentenced to prison.

Sherry Jean Overstreet was convicted of two counts of DUI Manslaughter last month.

It was a somber moment in a Holmes County courtroom Tuesday morning as 34-year-old Overstreet heard her fate.

Last month a jury convicted Overstreet in the May 9, 2004 car crash. That night Overstreet slammed her vehicle into a utility pole off County Road 179A north of Westville. Her passengers were her own 12 and nine-year-old sons, who were killed in the crash.

During Tuesday’s testimony Overstreet's mother painted a different picture of her daughter.

"I know she may have drank alcohol, but prior to those children dying she had no drug problem,” comments Sara Jordan, Overstreet’s mother.

But the children's father urged Judge Allen Register to consider his family.

"In the past the judicial system has let my sons down, but now I have renewed faith in the system. I'm not the only victim in this case. There are many such as their two sisters that will never see their brothers again,” the victim’s father explains.

Before her sentencing, Overstreet addressed the court.

"My kids are gone and that's the biggest punishment anyone could ever do to anyone. So I just have to do what I have to do,” Overstreet says.

Then Judge Register sentenced Overstreet to 25 years in prison for the two DUI Manslaughter convictions.

"Your decision to choose a night of drinking and partying and then drive your automobile with your two sons is inconceivable, incomprehensible, inexcusable,” explains Judge Register.

Judge Register also sentenced Overstreet to one year in the county jail for DUI with property damage. The one-year jail term will run concurrent with Overstreet's prison sentence, meaning she will serve most of that 25-year prison term.

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